email: monkeymix7 AT hotmail.com

Russ grew up in the Muscle Shoals area of Northwest Alabama . He was born into a musical family that encouraged him to pursue his love for music from an early age. At age twelve, Russ received his first drum set and quickly began to form bands with other musicians. He found many of his musical companions in the high school marching band of which he was a member. Russ played in numerous rock bands throughout his high school and college years.

In 1996, Russ enrolled at the University of North Alabama . As he was developing his percussive skills by performing in various percussion ensembles, he began looking for something more and pursued a degree in commercial music. He enrolled in as many music production and recording classes as he could. This training eventually led to a job opportunity when one of the instructors hired Russ to work in their pro audio retail store. There, Russ developed his skills both in the recording end and in the live end of professional audio. He worked in many of the Muscle Shoals area recording studios making records with local bands and songwriters. Concurrently, Russ began working for different live sound reinforcement companies around the southeast as a system tech, then moving to a mixing capacity.

In 2001, Russ became the road manager/FOH engineer for the regional touring act, ShagaDoo. He left the band in the fall of 2002 and began working full time for Majik Sound Productions, a professional staging, lighting and sound company based in the Tupelo, MS area. With Majik, Russ traveled across the south as FOH or monitor engineer for major festivals and concerts.